Sunday, March 31, 2013

Happy Easter! Here's a nice image that fits perfectly for today. This old photo was snapped in La Messa, California at the cross on Mt. Helix. Unfortunately the family was not identified on the back of the photo.

Wednesday, March 13, 2013

This week's assignment for the League of Extraordinary Bloggers is - I'm Seeing Red. LOEB members simply need to snap a photo of something red. For my photo I went with a hodgepodge of red things from some of my collections. I'm guessing if you took some of my blood and put it under a microscope this is what you'd see.

Saturday, March 09, 2013

Today is the day I join The League of Extraordinary Bloggers! I can't say I'm all that extraordinary, but joining the league is simple. To gain membership you must have a blog and you must blog about the current assignment. I've been enjoying the various posts by league members since the group started last year. Extraordinary blogger Brian over at Cool & Collected came up with the league and it continues to grow with each new assignment.

This week's assignment looked way too fun to pass up and so here I am. Hake's Americana & Collectibles have been working for over thirty years helping collectors find items to add to their collections. From character collectibles to historical artifacts, Hake's has sold some of the best! The league asked bloggers to go on an imaginary shopping spree and pick our "must haves" if money was no object. It's kind of like if Hake's had an official board game! Okay, I'll roll the dice and play! I could easily pick one of each since this auction is filled to the brim with coolness, but I won't be greedy with my imaginary money and only pick ten items.

Back in 1983, I was glued to the tube for the V miniseries. One scene showed some kids playing with Visitor action figures and boy did I want those figures. LJN had plans for a V action figure line, but unfortunately they were never produced. Hake's has up for auction a Diana prototype figure and for sone lucky fan, they'll finally own a V action figure! Be sure to check out the amazing action figure prototypes by Rick Roland being offered by Hake's!

Jack "King" Kirby original cover art to Fantastic Four! I'm a small time comic art collector and have yet to own an original Kirby. This cover would be a nice start on a Kirby art collection. 'Nuff said!

Great Caesar's ghost this early 1940s Superman table lighter is nifty! I can just picture this sitting on Perry White's desk at the Daily Planet. Better yet, I can picture this sitting on my desk here in Neato Coolville!

Children of the 1930s had some amazing toys and this Buck Rogers play outfit was one of the best. I've bought and sold a couple of the Daisy ray guns, but I've never found the helmet, vest or other pieces from this set.

One of my favorite things to collect when I'm out digging in flea markets and antique stores are items from the 1939 New York World's Fair. I've had a fascination with this fair for years! I've never been fortunate to sneak up on one of these tractor trains as nice as Hake's example.

Since I'm a child of the 70s, I missed out on the 1960s monster model craze. I did have one Aurora monster model as a kid and that was a Godzilla model. I eventually (foolishly) blew it up with firecrackers. Now here's a rare piece that I would never blow up with firecrackers, the third place prize for the 1964 Master Monster Maker contest that was featured in the pages of Famous Monsters of Filmland magazine.

I wish The Great Garloo would have been on toy shelves in the 1970s because he would have made my Christmas wish list for sure! Besides being an awesome toy Mr. Garloo had one of the best toy commercials ever made. Click here to watch it!

Check out some of the other extraordinary bloggers to see what they picked out from their imaginary Hake's shopping spree!

---Update---
I feel like the "Old Man" from A Christmas Story because I won a major award! That's right, Hake's sponsored this week's League assignment with gift certificates and randomly picked two winners and I won! The other lucky blogger was Calvin's Canadian Cave of Cool! Looks like it was a good day to have "cool" in your blog title. After Hake's current auction, I'll blog about the item I will (hopefully) win with my gift certificate. Big thanks to Hake's and Cool & Collected!

---Update #2---
I didn't win any of the items listed on my top ten list from above but I did win an item that should have been in my top ten. I won the Superman Crusader Ring! How cool is that? You can visit my post about the ring here. Here's a listing of prices realized before buyer's premium from my top ten list.

Thursday, March 07, 2013

Who remembers Doorways To Adventure The VCR Game by Pressman? I remember it and actually played this game. A neighbor friend invited me over and we attempted to play. Unfortunately we got bored and ditched the game in favor of a trip to our local arcade. Doorways To Adventure was a simple auction style game where players had to bid on objects shown in the video. The video consisted of old movie clips with cheesy narrations. Thanks to YouTube user FunWithPlasmids we can relive this game! (If you get bored, feel free to pause the video and visit your local arcade!)

Saturday, March 02, 2013

One of my favorite movies is the classic 1933 King Kong. Today marks the 80th anniversary of the release of this remarkable film. In honor of Mr. Kong, I dug out this 3D poster from Dynamite magazine.

Around the time this poster was free in Dynamite back in the 1970s, I discovered King Kong! I became a lifelong fan after watching it for the first time during late night TV with my dad and brother. Now as an adult I hardly let a year go by without watching King Kong and I'll be watching it again tonight.

Friday, March 01, 2013

I usually only collect stuff from the 1939 New York World's Fair, but recently I stumbled on this nice souvenir plate from the 1964-65 New York World's Fair. I paid a whopping two cents more than the original price back in the 60s. I know this because stuck on the back is the original price sticker from F.W. Woolworth for $1.98!